And I have another picture of a tropic Flori-dawn
by aviciousunicycle
Summary: As the sun rises, Tony and Ziva realize that they've grown tired of playing cat and mouse. TIVA. Presumably AU. Oneshot.


Hi there, compatriots. I usually wouldn't write a second oneshot without working on my main story, but after the night we had, I think we all deserve something that ends with Tony having the right girl by his side. We'll get through this, guys. Keep the faith.

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Obviously, I don't own NCIS

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Tony stood on the edge of the water. The sand was hard packed beneath his feet. The water was cold on his toes. There was a cold bite to the air as it stirred around him, ocean cooled air meeting the air warmed over the land. The sky was painted a spectrum of pastels that no artist's pallette could ever replicate as the sun rose over the Atlantic.  
"I still can't believe you found me," a voice, still rough from sleep, spoke from behind him.  
He did not even turn to acknowledge it. "I always find you," he replied, never looking away from the eastern horizon.  
She nudged his arm and placed a mug of coffee in his hands. He took a long draw of the beverage. Of course she would remember how he liked his coffee. No amount of time could erase that, he supposed.  
"The question is: why do you keep finding me?" she spoke, standing next to him. Their shoulders were not actually touching, but close enough that they could clearly feel one another's presence a hair's breadth away.  
Another pause while he had another sip of coffee. "Because I was tired of not finding you," he said cryptically.  
She raised and lowered her eyebrows, essentially shrugging with her face. "I don't know what that means," she said, taking a drink of her tea.  
"It's complicated."  
"I am not going anywhere any time soon."  
Tony took a drink, "Now's not the time for it, Ziva."  
"Hm," she said, not fully accepting his answer.  
He changed the subject, "Gibbs once told me that if you didn't want to be found, no one would find you."  
She brought her mug to her lips silently.  
"What does it say that I've always been able to find you?"  
"What do you think that it means?" Ziva posed.  
"I think it means that, deep down, you always want me to find you. You just don't want to admit it because you're stubborn as a jackass," he said, tone remaining flat.  
"You would be the expert on stubborn jackasses," she retorted just as stoically.  
"I looked for you in every woman I dated, Ziva," Tony said, "That's what I meant by being tired of not finding you."  
"Ah."  
"I thought I found you in one. Things were great. Everyone liked her. Gibbs seemed to approve. Sex life was great. Then I realized that I was just fooling myself," he explained to her silence.  
He heard her take a drink of her tea again and took that as a sign that she wanted him to continue.  
"I realized that no one could compare to you. Even someone who had such a similar personality. Someone who was just as deadly. Someone who looked so much like you. They weren't you. And the thing that I was in love with wasn't just your personality or your ninja skills or your looks, it was all of you. All of your experiences, good and bad, all the things we've seen together, all the little idiosyncrasies that were purely Ziva. No one could replicate that and it wasn't fair to me or to them or to you for me to expect them to."  
"You said my name in bed, didn't you?" she asked sardonically.  
He grunted, "I did not."  
For the first time all morning, she turned to face him. "But you thought about me, didn't you?" Her voice was low and rough and thick with sexuality and so, so dangerous. "Thought about those nights we shared in the house at Be'ershiva? The way I felt on top of you? The way it felt to have your lips on me? How it felt to wake up, entangled with me?"  
He gulped, trying to avoid looking at her. She grabbed his jaw and pulled him to face her. Ziva looked very flustered, very charged. Her chocolate eyes seemed to burn with something that could be lust or could be rage. Tony did not want to press his luck, so he kept his mouth closed.  
She continued, "Because I did. Those feelings, those thoughts, they haunted my mind at all hours of the day. They engulfed me. I could not shake those memories of you. Of us. Of course I wanted you to find me. If I was being honest with myself, I never wanted you to leave!" Her voice was rising. It was clear that she was finding it more and more difficult to keep her feelings at bay.  
"I didn't want to leave," he said, "But you told me to and I would do anything you asked. You told me that I was better without you. You told me to move on with my life and find someone else. Did you ever think for even a second that maybe, just maybe I didn't want to move on? That maybe I loved you?"  
She froze. "Did you?" she asked quietly.  
He turned away, "Does it matter now?"  
She stomped her foot on the sand, "Yes! Yes, it matters."  
He jerked his head around and looked at her with fire in his eyes, "Why, Ziva? Why does it matter? If it didn't matter a year and a half ago, why would it matter now?"  
She cowered before him. He had not seen her look so small, so helpless. She seemed afraid of him and he could not believe it. The strong, stubborn woman he had left in Israel seemed to have been replaced by someone else. And this Ziva was truly looking for something. Right now, that something seemed to be Tony's approval, his affection, his companionship.  
When she spoke, it was barely louder than the wind around them, "Because I still love you."  
He looked at her. Despite the frustration that was still bouncing around in his mind. Despite how he still felt that she had stolen over a year from them. Despite his fears that his hang ups with Ziva had ruined any relationship, even friendship, with Zoe. Despite all of that, he could not deny that he still loved her. Despite all of that, he could not deny that part of him wanted to take her in his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay.  
Instead, he simply said, "You think I would have taken unpaid leave and flew to Florida if I didn't still love you, Ziva?"  
He saw her relax. The weight leaving her shoulders was visible. Tony wrapped his arm around her shoulder. She leaned into his side.  
"I can never apologize enough for it to matter," Ziva said, leaning her head against his shoulder.  
He shook his head and tightened his grip on her, "Just show me that you mean it, Ziva."  
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath of the salt air, "You want me to come back to D.C. with you?"  
"Mmhmm," he said, nodding, "And don't leave me again."  
Ziva took a shuddering breath and he could feel her tense up against him.  
"It can be our secret," he said, hoping this reassured her, "I don't care if anyone else knows that you're back. I just...it's selfish, but I just want you back."  
She nodded, "I think I can do that."  
He pressed a kiss to her temple and turned to watch the sun rise on their second chance.


End file.
